Genesis (and then there were three )

Great album, really - it brightened my summer vacations that year

Blacksword wrote: M27Barney wrote: Not listened to the vinyl album since 1980 and possibly not listened to the CD incarnation for 20 years! Was this the 2nd pop-prog album? (I always consider DSOTM as pop-prog - very accessible for non Floyd fans - who still hated WYWH and animals) - probably not...but the short-song format and lyrical content is outside of the far superior music that preceded it! Some nice melodies if I recall - a massive pop hit in "Follow you Follow Me" - My wife loves that song - we first-danced to that at my wedding in 1988.....I don't suppose we could have first danced to apocalypse in 9/8 could we.... Pop/prog is probably a reasonably fair description of ATTWT. Some of the tracks have an epic prog feel; Burning Rope, The Lady Lies and Deep in the Motherlode, but the melodies are accessable and the songs relatively short. It comes in for a lot of flak from prog purists, understandably perhaps, but I don't think it's an embarassament like some of their later albums were.

Listening now.

"Down and Out" is spectacular. "Deep in the Motherlode" is my favorite song. 

It's a 'curate's egg' of an album. Some very good moments mixed with several dodgy stuff as well. At the time I thought Rutherford made a good fist of the guitar duties, but the hole left by Hackett is increasingly clear when you hear it now.

The UK tribute band - Los Endos - Ultimate Genesis - are doing the 78 Knebworth Show this year on their tour ((plus Gabriel-era extras) and it'll be interesting to see how some ATTWT tracks stand up against the classics.

I can add that the Duke tour of 1980 was a pleasant surprise when I saw them at the Manchester Apollo. My expectations were low, as Duke was a good, rather than a great, album..... but they were able to display enough progginess on the night to send me home smiling (The Knife as an encore helped though!)

I think a lot of fans of the band were slightly put off by the fact that there were no epics on the record!Personally I love ATTWT.Saying that most of everything the wrote bar a handful of songs throughout their career is a joy to listen to!

richardh wrote: I prefer the 4 post Gabriel Genesis albums to virtually everything else they did barring Foxtrot. I like the harder powerful sound they were generating at this time. For me they peaked when they toured on the back of Duke and prog never got any better than the 1980 Lyceum gig. From then it was a steep decline although I love Fading Lights was a decent end to an important band. (I cannot count Calling All Stations as a Genesis album)

My position is very similar, although I'd put the Lamb on a par with Foxtrot.

I also agree about Calling all Stations. I think it was a bit cynical calling a Genesis album. It's a Banks/Rutherford project really. Without Hacket or Collins or Gabriel, it's not Genesis. End of. IMO.

Happy for people who enjoy this album, but really, I don't see what they see. Duke to my ears is a much better album. For that matter, Genesis was a better band when Steve Hackett was in the band.

The last of the truly Prog-fueled Genesis albums IMO. Duke is still a great album, kinda 50/50 Prog-Pop, but afterwards we only have faint glimpses of Prog Genesis........